


Whole(some) Foods

by tacotits



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Barret is the head of a green ngo, M/M, Modern AU, Rating is ONLY for the last chapter, Reeve is an architect that specializes in green buildings, can i make it any more obvious, slight Aerti if you squint, the first 5 chapters are just fluff and the last one is just smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:21:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28524615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacotits/pseuds/tacotits
Summary: Work had been long that day and Reeve Tuesti was just hoping for a quick trip to the local organic supermarket on his way home--restock on his favorite type of instant quinoa and then get out. He wasn't expecting to run into a loud (and extremely handsome) single father and his cute daughter. And he certainly didn't think he would leave the supermarket with a new nickname: "Quinoa Man." Now if only he could figure out how to slip the man his phone number...
Relationships: Reeve Tuesti/Barret Wallace
Comments: 24
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off an idea I saw on Twitter that Barret and Reeve are the most likely characters to shop at Whole Foods. I love the idea that in a modern AU, Barret runs an NGO called AVALANCHE, and things just got out of hand from there. 
> 
> Shout out to Twitter user artist_black for the story's perfect name and to my partner for beta reading and also listening to me rant about this idea for ages before I finally wrote it down.
> 
> IMPORTANT: The rating is ONLY for the last chapter, so if you're here for fluff, the first 5 chapters are all safe!

It was late evening, only an hour before closing, when a sleek black sports car slid into the parking lot of Wholesome Foods, the grocery store for those in the market for organic, local, and otherwise expensive health products. The car, probably the latest model only a few years previous, for all its pristine presentation, was totally unkempt on the inside. Not dirty, but certainly cluttered: documents and dry cleaning covered the backseats. Reaching back into the mess, the driver fished out several reusable shopping bags before stepping out and locking the car. The driver, Reeve Tuesti, a tired but put together man in his mid-thirties, set out to the supermarket at a brisk pace. Shopping here without guilt was a direct result of the recent success of his independent architectural firm. It was nice to have the money to “protect the planet.” Leaving the monolith that was the Shinra Company had been a tough but important decision, but finding success without them made him feel even more confident with his new direction. He picked up a basket.

Reeve wasted no time picking up his usual essentials. As usual, mostly ready-made or instant food since he had little time to cook. Part of him worried that he should be eating healthier, but they were all products marketed as “organic” and “healthy,” so it had to be fine. That’s what he told himself anyway as he headed to the aisle containing the last item on his mental list. 

Instant quinoa. The packets only needed to be microwaved before they were ready for consumption and even came in a variety of different flavors. What made this food particularly attractive was the fact that quinoa was a so called “complete protein;” even if Reeve failed to eat anything else over the course of the day, he would still be getting all the nutrients he needed. He came to a halt in front of the shelf containing the colorful bags of quinoa. In one smooth motion, he swept the whole lot into his basket. That should tide him over until he had the time to come back.

Focused on the task at hand, Reeve made no notice of the small family he maneuvered around as he made his way out of the aisle and towards the check out. The loud cursing that followed moments later, however, did make him turn around. While it was unusual for Reeve to meet people taller than him, the owner of the curses most definitely surpassed his height by quite a few inches, giving him a big stature that was only further emphasized by the way a band t-shirt stretched tight across a muscular chest. While Reeve could have kept looking at him for ages, his attention was quickly captured by the little girl who was clinging to the tall man’s hip like a human koala. From the mismatched socks, to the tutu, to the hoodie styled to look like an alligator, she looked every bit like a girl enjoying her childhood to the fullest. 

“Every time Daddy swears I get a cookie!” She declared, looking up at her father with big eyes and an even bigger grin.

“Ah shoot, you’re right, Princess,” the man responded with an apologetic look, and enough paternal affection that Reeve felt his own heart start to pound a little. These two … were really cute.

He must have been staring because the other man locked eyes with him, soft expression gone instantly. “Hey you!”

Reeve startled, not sure what he had done to offend this incredibly handsome man.

“Think about other shoppers next time, won’t you?” He gestured at the empty shelf where the quinoa had been with his free arm.

Oh. Reeve looked at his own basket, piled high with packets of quinoa. OH.

Before he could respond though, the other man, tiny tutu wearing daughter and all, was walking past him, grumbling something about needing a Crockpot. The little girl waved as she went. “See you, Quinoa Man.”

Reeve stood frozen in the aisle.

What.

What just happened?

***

Reeve must have not been busy enough (or maybe it was the opposite, he was too busy), because for the week following, the encounter was all that was on his mind. So when he pulled into the grocery store parking lot after a long week of work he couldn’t help but wonder if he would meet them again. And as fate would have it, he did.

The little girl was wearing a unicorn kigurumi this time, and holding her father’s hand. She looked up as soon as she saw him. “Hi, Quinoa Man!”

Her father looked over as well, grinning in recognition as he did. “Looks like you got here too late this time.” He brandished a basket full of quinoa to elaborate. 

Reeve just blinked at him.

“What’s your favorite?” The basket was in his face then, and it took Reeve a moment too long to realize what was being asked. Was he…? Eventually, he pointed to an orange packet.

“The Garlic one.”

“Oh? Excellent choice. That’s my favorite too.” The answer came with a wink, and the man smoothly passed a packet of the mentioned quinoa from his basket to Reeve’s.

And then he was gone, little girl waving as they left.

The well-built man and his daughter had left an impression on Reeve for obvious reasons (not purely but mostly consisting of “WOW, HE’S HOT.”). But Reeve hadn’t expected them to remember him at all. Not that he was particularly boring or anything, (here he paused to look at his own attire--a white button up with the sleeves rolled up and dark colored slacks--okay, maybe a little boring), but compared to the two of them he wasn’t exactly interesting. But the little girl had recognized him right away, her father too. 

Reeve paused to look at the quinoa packet in his otherwise empty basket.

It was… kinda touching.

***

The third time he had all but given up on running into them entirely. An early spring storm had blown in just as Reeve was heading out to buy cat food. If he was buying food for himself, he might have gone back, but for Cait Sith… He frowned, looking at the rain pouring down his windshield, and then the half a parking lot between him and the supermarket doors. Anything for the cat.

Reeve pushed wet bangs back and out of his eyes as he headed for the pet aisle. No need for a basket if the only thing he would be putting in it was a 40-pound bag of cat food. He couldn’t resist peeking into the grain aisle as he walked past but. No handsome fathers this time. Not surprising but he couldn’t help but feel a tad disappointed.

So when he turned the corner to see a little girl sitting on a pile of cat food, he almost didn’t recognize her at first.

“Quinoa Man!” She waved. This time, she was wearing a pink cowboy hat and a black Godzilla t-shirt that looked several sizes too large for her.

Managing an awkward greeting, Reeve wasn’t sure whether to ask about the whereabouts of her father first, or ask why she was sitting on the cat food. Thankfully, she beat him to it.

“I want a cat.” She patted the bags of dry food thoughtfully. “But Daddy said no.”

“Oh,” Reeve replied, brain starting to piece together what had most likely happened in his head.

“I want a BIG cat!” She suddenly shouted, throwing her arms out wide. “This big, no BIGGER!”

Reeve startled, almost falling backwards.

The girl continued, enthusiasm building. “I want a cat that’s bigger than Daddy’s car and strong and that I can ride on, like a horse! And then I can ride it to kindergarten and visit Daddy at work! Tifa has a cat! It’s just a normal one though.”

Reeve decided that just like with Santa Claus, it was important not to spoil children’s dreams.

“Why can Tifa have a cat but I can’t?! It’s not fair!!” The girl looked like she might start crying at this point and Reeve started to panic. “But…But Daddy said once I’m big and strong enough to carry a whole bag of cat food by myself that maybe we could get a cat.”

Reeve looked at big bags the girl was sitting on. That was…certainly one way to do it.

But before the girl could continue, the lights went out.

The storm! The winds must have knocked a tree over somewhere and caused an outage. Definitely an inconvenience but not much more—“Daddy?!” her terrified voice cut through his thoughts.

Oh no.

“Hey! It’s okay!” Reeve said quickly, in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. “It’s just a power outage. I’m sure they’ll get the lights running again in no time—”

What sounded like sniffling cut him off. Not knowing what else to do, Reeve pulled his phone out of his pocket and desperately opened his photo album.

“Hey, you like cats, right? Would you like to see a picture of my cat? His name is Cait Sith.”

Reeve wasn’t sure if it was the light from the phone or the picture of the cat on the screen that did it, but the girl seemed to calm down a little. “Cait Sith?”

“Yes, he’s named after Scottish mythical cats. They’re known for being mischievous tricksters, and he is QUITE the troublemaker.”

“What does he do?” The girl asked, looking at a picture of his beloved cat curled up in a perfect ball.

Reeve thumbed through the phone, pulling up photo after photo of the cat’s exploits. “And one time, after I came home late again—”

The lights picked that moment to finally flick back on. It couldn’t have been more than a minute.

And then, as if summoned by the lights, the girl’s father appeared at the end of the aisle, looking very much the part of a frantic parent.

“Marlene!” He shouted, dashing towards her.

“Daddy!” She cried back, jumping into his arms happily. “Look, look! Quinoa Man showed me pictures of his cat!” She then proceeded to launch into her own retelling of Reeve's cat stories, adding embellishment and sound effects as she flailed about in her father’s arms. “And he’s named after Scottish mythical cats!” She finished dramatically.

The man had listened to his daughter with rapt attention the whole time, and only now that she was finished did he look over at Reeve, almost sizing him up. Then, to his daughter, he said. “Marlene, are you forgetting something?”

Her eyes got big and she immediately turned to face Reeve, who stood there awkwardly, his hair still wet. “Thank you, Quinoa Man! I love Cait Sith!”

Reeve startled a little as the girl’s father chuckled. Then he turned his full attention to Reeve. “Thanks, I owe you, man.” His smile was dazzling.

***

Weeks passed without Reeve running into the father-daughter pair again. With each day, Reeve kicked himself harder for not having come up with an excuse to slip the man his phone number or maybe give him a business card. Not that he was into the man, of course. He still didn’t even know his name. He could have a gorgeous wife waiting for all that quinoa at home for all he knew. Or he could be single, but straight. Reeve sighed into his hands.

If only he could stop thinking about that smile.

***

Reeve glanced at the schedule in his hands for the hundredth time that day and then sat up a little straighter. He had been invited to this conference on green architecture months ago by a client, and had later found out that one of his new clients was supposed to be one of the speakers. Working his way into this niche of industry had been tough, and the pay wasn’t always the best, but it made his work fulfilling in a way it had never been back at Shinra. Still though, some people were touchy or doing green building projects for all the wrong reasons. Finding and meeting new clients always made Reeve uneasy these days. He was glad that at least he got to listen to this newest client (the head of an NGO called AVALANCHE) speak to the crowd and decide how he felt about him before they met face to face.

“Please help me to welcome Barret Wallace,” the announcer called out.

Applause sounded through the room but Reeve didn’t hear it.

It was him.

It was the Quinoa Dad.

If he had been handsome before, he was overwhelming now. Maybe it was just Reeve’s personal tastes but the way the suit jacket emphasized his broad shoulders; the slight bit of muscular chest that was visible from the collar of his shirt, not quite buttoned to his collarbone; the fact that he was in jeans but still managed to look classy… this man was everything.

Reeve had been known to focus so much on something that he entirely missed what a person was saying but the moment this man opened his mouth, Reeve was listening. The speech had draw—he sucked in the whole audience and they hung on his every word. There was passion but precision. Facts, but raw emotion. Did he have some kind of background in public speaking?

He finished to a round of applause.

Reeve was completely star-struck.


	2. Chapter 2

“Nice work, boss!”

Barret Wallace accepted the high five waiting for him as he stepped into the back room with a grin.

“You really got the crowd going this time,” the woman added, slapping him on the back. 

“Just sharing some of my passion, Jessie,” he replied with a shrug, but his grin gave him away.

“Hmm, well you’d better get ready to share some of that passion with the architect we’re meeting next too.”

Barret’s shoulders immediately slumped and his subordinate was chastising him with the same speed.

“This guy is the BEST, Barret. We’re lucky we got a contract with him at all!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Barret waved at the air, as if it would help to dissipate this story that he had heard time and time again.

“The grant we got didn’t quite cover his fees but he gave us a discount because it’s a green project! So play nice!”

“Why should we play nice with a former Shinra employee?” Barret grumbled.

“He’s running his own independent firm now! You saw the different projects he’s worked on since then!”

“Plenty of folk are “green” to get tax breaks or cut corners, Jessie. We won’t know if he actually cares about the cause until we meet him.”

“Well lucky for you we’re supposed to meet him in the foyer in 5 minutes. Let’s go!” Barret sighed but agreed, trudging after Jessie, but only after he had taken a good look at his prosthetic right arm. People deserved a second chance after all.

***

There, waiting for them with a briefcase in one hand, was none other than Quinoa Man. The immaculate suit and focused expression were in sharp contrast to his usual crumpled button up and spaced out expression, but there was no denying it. This was the man who had looked after his daughter during that black out at Wholesome Foods supermarket. The universe worked in strange ways, but Barret knew better than to question it when it delivered him something good for once.

He called out a greeting and clapped the man on his shoulder. “Man, I never thought I would run into you again!”

“Likewise. I’m glad to see you again.” The warm smile he gave was genuine, and infectious.

“Never felt like I thanked you enough for taking care of Marlene before. Let me take you out to drinks or something sometime, yeah?”

The other man looked a little flushed, but before he could reply Jessie cut in excitedly: “Wait, you two know each other?!”

It seemed like this would be a good project after all.

***

The day following, Reeve pulled up to their modest office in his black sports car, wearing a different, but just as nice suit as the day before, a briefcase full of papers, and a head full of ideas. He was thirty minutes early. Barret looked up from where he was unlocking the front door.

“Y’know, if you had been any earlier, you would have been locked out.”

Reeve colored and Barret laughed.

Despite the awkward start, Reeve proved very quickly to be a quick thinker, a good communicator, and above all else, extremely good at his job. As the days passed, Barret became more and more convinced that Reeve had been every bit worth his expensive fees. His devotion to the planet remained to be seen, but his know-how and ability to get things done were second to none. If only he fit in a little better with the rest of the team.

“Maybe he’s just shy. He hasn’t had a chance to get to know us yet,” Wedge reasoned one night after work when the entire team (sans Reeve of course) were doing dinner together at their favorite joint. Wedge was considered the heart of the team. He was good at reading people and good at keeping them together. Jessie agreed with him quickly.

“Yeah! We should ask him out to lunch with us one day or something.” She was the planner and go-getter of the team. If Barret hadn’t been the leader, she most definitely would have; everyone rode off her enthusiasm.

“Or maybe, he’s just actually super boring and has no life outside of work.” Biggs cut in, suspicious. “You know how big companies bleed the life out of people. Sharpen them into tools that have no use outside of a single purpose.” He was the team’s skeptic. He helped balance out all the positive energy and keep the group focused.

Barret snorted at this but said nothing. Biggs had a good point, and normally he would be inclined to agree with him, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the awkward man in Wholesome Foods, showing a girl he barely knew pictures of his cat so she wouldn’t be scared in the dark. Where was that guy now? Reeve Tuesti seemed too good—too distant—to be Quinoa Man.

“Or maybe he’s just shy around Barret because he’s got a crush.” Jessie jumped in with a sing-song voice that immediately cut through their leader’s thoughts.

“What makes you say that?” Eyebrows raised, he took a sip of his drink.

“I mean, look at yourself, Boss. You’re smoking.” She emphasized with both arms, making little sizzling sound effects.

Barret just rolled his eyes.

After that, the conversation shifted to their plans to ask the seemingly perfect architect out to lunch, and whether or not taking him to a restaurant that only served gluten-free, vegan dishes counted as hazing. They settled on asking him the following week. Barret agreed to do his part and be the one to invite him. But that whole evening he couldn’t stop thinking about the way Reeve had stared at him in Wholesome Foods.

***

Decorated in pinks and pastel greens, Polka Dot was a vegan restaurant on a bustling corner downtown. Though small, the restaurant was well known in the city for good food (“I didn’t even realize it wasn’t real meat!”), beautiful decorations of real flowers, and extremely capable owners: Tifa Lockhart, and Aerith Gainsborough. Tifa happened to be a close friend of Barret’s and his whole team had been regulars at Polka Dot since it first opened. As tempting as it had been to haze Reeve and take him to one of the more extreme “health food” restaurants, the team decided it would be more fun to take him to Polka Dot.

“I’m sure Aerith will get a kick out of teasing him,” Jessie added with a grin.

Reeve surprised everyone by not only being familiar with Polka Dot, but also being familiar with one of its owners.

“Reeve!” Aerith set down her tray before all but tackling him. “It’s been ages! How are you? How is Cait Sith?”

It was the first time Barret had seen him smile so genuinely as he caught the young woman in a hug. “Cait Sith is good. Mischievous as ever. My apologies that it’s been so long since I came by last.”

The two of them chatted as Aerith led the group back to their usual table, Avalanche watching with stunned expressions.

Later, Barret learned through Tifa that the two had met at Shinra. “Aerith doesn’t like to talk about her time in that company, but she’s mentioned a kind man with a cat before, so I’m guessing that’s Reeve,” she had explained. 

“You don’t think he just befriended her because he was trying to hit on her or—” But even as he said it, that didn’t seem like something Quinoa Man would do at all. 

“It sounds like they bonded over both being gay actually. Y’know how it is,” she gave him a knowing smile. “We just find each other.” 

Barret met her fist with a solid bump. “That we do.”

After that lunch at Polka Dot, the architect seemed to ease up around the group, smiling more, and even telling the odd joke. Barret caught him and Wedge talking in the office conference room (which doubled as the lunch room), Reeve with the hint of a smile on his face. He didn’t mean to stare and the other man seemed to catch his eyes almost instantly. The moment of shock melted away into a raised eyebrow and something more of a smirk. Barret snorted and walked away, but couldn’t help but wanting to see a little more of that smile.

***

The chance came a random weekday when everyone but Reeve and Barret had already left the office for the day. Even though the day was technically over, Reeve was still pouring over some rough blueprints, suit jacket hanging over his chair and sleeves rolled up. He absentmindedly tapped a pen against his chin, deep in thought. Then, something seemed to catch his eye, and he popped the pen in his mouth so he could use both hands to realign the large sheets of thin paper. He grinned, the pen moving upwards as he did so.

“Hey.”

At the voice Reeve jumped, dropping the pen in his mouth and sending it bouncing across the table. Cursing, he inspected the blueprints for pen marks. Only when he found none did he finally look up, looking mildly annoyed until he realized who we was looking at.

“B-Barret!” He all but squeaked in an octave higher than usual.

“Sorry to have startled you.” But the grin on his face suggested otherwise.

“It’s fine. What can I help you with? Did you want to see the current blueprints?”

Barret chuckled at this response. “You really are a workaholic, aren’t you?” When Reeve just cocked his head to the side in response, Barret only smiled wider.

“It’s almost seven and we’re the only ones still here. Let’s clean up and get this place closed up for the evening.” And then, almost as an afterthought. “You want to grab dinner together? My treat, I still owe you for that one time.”

Reeve seemed to brighten at the prospect but after a moment of mulling it over frowned slightly. “I would love to, but I don’t want to keep you from getting home to Marlene.”

Barret paused to stare at him. It was unusual that anyone outside of his close circle remembered his responsibilities as an only parent. Reeve was surprisingly thoughtful. “No worries, she’s at Gymnastics practice today. I would have been outta here long before now otherwise.”

“Oh.” Reeve blinked at him with a face Barret hadn’t seen since they met at Wholesome Foods. 

“C’mon, let’s go! And leave the coat; it’s almost June.”

***

They ended up back at Polka Dot in a little booth out of the way. It was a bit stiff at first, neither entirely sure what to say, but talk of work got Barret asking about the other projects Reeve had designed and the conversation flowed smoothly after that, into everything from the trouble getting green building supplies to alternative energy. For not the first time, Barret was pleased to confirm that Reeve wasn’t just talk. He was as invested in saving the planet as the whole team.

“Not bad for someone who used to work at Shinra,” Barret said, an eyebrow raised.

“I-“ Reeve faltered, obviously caught off guard. It was the face of someone who had had the same unpleasant conversation time and time again, but was never any more ready for it. “I left Shinra quite a few years ago. My work since then should be more than enough to prove that I don’t condone their methods.”

“Right, right, sorry.” Barret held up his hands to placate. “I really don’t have room to talk anyway.”

Reeve opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and closed it. Then, as if suddenly realizing for the first time: “That hand…”

Barret frowned slightly and then burst out into loud laughter. “You telling me you didn’t notice my prosthetic until now?!”

Cheeks colored, Reeve tried to defend himself but the only thing he could think of was even more indicting. “I-- you-- you’re, well--” He gestured wildly with his hand.

“I’m what?”

“You..have a nice face…”

Barret‘s laughter slowed to a chuckle as he locked eyes and with the man sitting across from him. “You calling me attractive, Mr. Famous Architect?”

Reeve looked like he was trying very hard to focus on the other man’s face and nothing else. “And if I am?”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere with me.” Barret finally broke eye contact, taking a long sip from his drink. “Besides, you’ve got a long way to go before you’re anywhere close to being good as Jessie.”

Reeve snorted but nodded. “She’s quite good at that isn’t she? The whole team though.. they’re all very capable people.”

“That they are!” Barret replied, raising his glass. “And we’re all here for the cause. Glad to have you on board for this project, Reeve.”

The other man looked like he was blushing but maybe Barret was just imagining things. “I’m glad to be here.”

The conversation lulled after that and Reeve ventured to ask:  
“How is Marlene, by the way?” 

“Doing great! Energetic as always. Can’t stop talking about your cat though, haha.”

“Oh, Cait Sith? She remembers him from those few photos?” Reeve seemed surprised.

“In detail,” Barret looked at him from over his drink with a sigh. “Every time she sees a cat, real or a drawing, she brings him up. It’s her new thing.”

Reeve had to chuckle at that. “Shall I give you a few new photos of him or would that only make matters worse?”

“That would make her day!” Barret practically shouted from the table. “You’re a lifesaver, man.”

The architect’s cheeks reddened a little but he looked through his phone with purpose. Within seconds, he had selected quite a few photos; his cat really was too cute. “How should I send these to you? Emailing them to the office account seems a bit…”

“Can you AirDrop them to me?” As much as big companies like Apple made Barret’s skin crawl, after several years of bullying by the rest of the team and Tifa, he had finally caved and bought an iPhone; it was just too damn convenient.

“I’m afraid my phone is too old for that. Can I text them to you instead?”

“Sure. My number is…” He began and Reeve tapped it into his contacts with resolve. Barret tried not to notice how Reeve most definitely had the newest model available on the market. Had he just been trying to get Barret’s number…?

The conversation continued for a bit until Barret checked the time and announced he would be getting the check. Reeve insisted on coming to the register with him, and Barret couldn’t think of why he would want to do that, until right when they arrived at the register, and he saw a flash of something gold come out of Reeve’s pocket.

“No way!” Barret had his wallet out and ready. “I invited you out as a thank you for helping Marlene that one time. I’ve got the bill!”

“On the contrary, you invited me, so I should be the one to pay for it. I’m grateful for your time and company.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. Besides, as the boss, I should be paying!”

“I’m not technically your employee, Mr. Wallace.”

Trying to ignore the way Reeve had said his name, and how it made his face hot, Barret turned to his old friend for help. “Tifa, help me out here!”

The young woman, who had been watching the whole thing from her spot behind the counter with growing glee, raised her hands. “Sorry Barret, you’ll have to ask Aerith. She’s the one who waited on you.”

Reeve, sensing his advantage, turned to the woman at the other side of the cafe. He didn’t want to use their personal connection to put her in an awkward situation but… he wanted to be the one to pay for dinner, damnit! When she finally looked over, it was all she could do to keep herself from laughing.

“For a cat person, you make really good puppy eyes, Reeve.”

With that she trotted over to the register, squeezing in front of Tifa with ease, and punched a few keys. “There,” she said, handing them both separate checks. “You can each pay for your own portion.” They both glared but she only laughed.

***

They paused outside the restaurant to say their goodbyes. “Thank you for inviting me today, Barret.”

“Of course, man. Real sneaky trying to catch the tab like that though.”

“Not sneaky enough I suppose. I will have to try harder next time.” Reeve straightened his collar, feigning self consciousness.

“I’d like to see you try. I’ll be ready for ya.” Barret grinned.

“Oh, and how exactly will you do that?” Interest peaked, Reeve caught his eyes.

“You’re just gonna have to find out, won’t you?” Something about the way the light was hitting his face from the shop window, the sparkles in his eyes…

“It’s a date then?” It was Reeve’s turn to grin.

“It’s a date!”

They said their goodbyes and Barret drove to pick up Marlene from practice. It wasn’t until he had tucked her into bed and was in the bathroom brushing his teeth that it hit him. Wait. Like, a DATE date?!


	3. Chapter 3

Barret Wallace wasn’t looking for romance. An accident had taken his wife and best friend from him years previous, an event which had also brought Marlene into his life. Between the grief, the struggle for a new direction, and the struggle as a single parent, he hadn’t even wanted to think about finding someone else. And now, all these years later, it just didn’t seem necessary. From time to time he did feel guilty—would Marlene be happier with two parents instead of just one? Were all her needs getting met? But all attempts to get back in the dating pool had failed horribly. Jessie had set him up on quite a few dates, and Tifa even had introduced him to a person here and there but none of them were right… At this point he was tired of them guessing his type and trying to set him up on dates. Things were good as they were.

But then...Reeve Tuesti just showed up out of nowhere.

Barret had spent enough time with the man now to respect him. He was a good hard worker, and true to the cause. And he wasn’t half bad looking… Barret wasn’t sure if he was ready to admit he found the other man attractive. That felt like the point of no return. But there was something about him that made the leader want to know more. He wanted to see more of the man with wet hair and a phone full of cat pictures.

Surely one date with Quinoa Man wouldn’t hurt. 

He told himself in front of the mirror. It was tempting to change things up, but he settled on just cleaning up the edges on his beard, and donning a clean shirt and fitted jeans. The sleeves of the shirt came down to his elbows—too short to hide the prosthetic but long enough to cover the tattoos. Barret wasn’t one to hide himself, but he wasn’t in the mood for the trouble they might bring. Fussing finished, he headed out.

***

If Reeve Tuesti didn’t know any better, he would say that Barret was nervous. He had convinced the other man to carpool to the restaurant that evening, on the pretext that it used less gas and also that parking downtown was expensive and hard to find. In actuality, he had just wanted to spend more time with the head of AVALANCHE, and quite possibly take him for a night drive—there were few who weren’t impressed by Reeve’s car, especially when he put the top down. It had been a present to himself after finishing a big project at Shinra: his last big purchase before he left the company and the only object of his affection that rivaled Cait Sith (almost). But unfortunately for him, Barret had won the argument for whose car to take; the two were currently zooming along in Barret’s old Jeep. Reeve tried not to be disappointed—he had even cleaned his car...

Barret switched gears as they entered downtown, uncharacteristically silent. He was looking particularly handsome that evening, in a Henley shirt that stretched right across his chest and biceps. There was no way someone as confident and good at public speaking as him was nervous because of something like a date. Reeve was probably just projecting. Maybe the architect had said something that made him uncomfortable? Trying not to worry about whether or not he might ruin his chance at another date, Reeve ventured to start a conversation.

“You drive a manual? Not a lot of people do that these days.”

Barret’s eye glanced over to Reeve and then back to the road before he responded. “Nothing special about it. This model was just cheaper than the automatic.”

“Oh?” Reeve responded in a voice that he hoped said “tell me more.”

“This old clunker was my first car actually—been with me for years now.” Barret provided, after a long moment of silence. “Thought about changing her out for an electric time and time again but… just too sentimental I guess. Plus she’d probably go straight to the junkyard, and I’m not about to be that wasteful.”

Reeve nodded, understanding. “A lot of people don’t realize that it saves more energy that way.”

“Here’s a man who gets it!” Barret replied as his signature grin finally made an appearance. Reeve’s heart skipped a beat.

“Not bad for someone who used to work at the evil Shinra, eh?” Reeve risked teasing with a small smile.

Barret snorted and then, his mood seeming to shift entirely, sighed. “Sorry I gave you shit for that.”

“No, no, I completely understand! It’s fine.” He waved it off, kicking himself for the distasteful joke. His self berating froze, however, at what the NGO leader said next.

“It’s a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, y’see.”

Reeve blinked at him.

“You’re not the only one who used to work for those bastards.”

Time seemed to slow down. Reeve’s hands clenched, a bit clammy with nerves. He became accurately aware of the car slowing down as they pulled into a parking garage. Barret took the ticket from the machine and pulled into a parking spot.

Barret Wallace, former Shinra Employee…?!

***

Despite the bombshell that had been dropped earlier, and Reeve’s dying curiosity to learn more, the date proceeded strangely smoothly. They got vegan burgers at a place Barret recommended, which surprised Reeve by how good they were. Other victories for the night included getting Barret to laugh a few times, and the moment when they had both reached for the water pitcher and brushed hands. Reeve wondered if he should have clarified that this was a date and not just a hang out between friends, but the look Barret had given him when their hands brushed made it very obvious that he was well aware. That was good. The last time Reeve had tried to date a single father had been a disaster.

After the date, Barret had dropped him off, and even walked him all the way to his apartment door in a show of chivalry that might have annoyed Reeve if he hadn’t been so hopeful for a goodnight kiss.

“Thank you for tonight,” he began, meeting Barret’s eyes in a way that he hoped was romantic as he tried to work up the courage to reach for his hand. 

“It was nice.” Barret replied, scratching the back of his head bashfully.

“Yeah?” Reeve leaned closer, a voice in his head shouting “KISS HIM.” He didn’t know if he could though. Maybe he should invite Barret in first? He was desperate to think of some excuse when the sound of faint scratching reached his ears.

Barret frowned, turning his attention to the door. “What’s that?”

An angry meow sounded from the other side of Reeve’s apartment door. Cait Sith, of course. He must have been mad that Reeve was home late again. Reeve almost sighed. 

“My cat.” and then, against his better judgement: “Do you want to meet him?” This was undoubtedly a bad idea. Cait Sith had hated all the men Reeve brought home without exception. Whether it was jealousy or overprotectiveness or some combination of the two, the cat usually hissed and batted at anyone dating Reeve, even having gone so far as to attack one blond suitor. At first Reeve had thought it was because the other man had a dog, but when they had broken up less than a week later, he couldn’t help but wonder if his cat was a good judge of character. Swallowing his reservations, he turned his attention back to Barret, who looked… excited?

“Your cat as in THE Cait Sith?”

“Yes…?”

“Hell yeah, I would love to meet the little guy. Marlene is gonna be so jealous.”

Reeve hoped he would be able to keep that enthusiasm even after he met the cat.

As soon as the door opened, a lanky but somehow elegant black and white cat rushed out, tail whipping back and forth irritably as he voiced his grievances with loud meows. Reeve crouched down, holding out a hand and apologizing in soft tones. Yes, he knew he was late, but he had left dinner out for the cat, so it wasn’t as if he would go hungry. Finally, he turned his attention to his date.

“This is Barret,” Reeve introduced the other man who had also crouched down to get closer to the cat. “Can you say hello for me? And mind your manners.”

“Hey buddy,” Barret slowly held out his real hand so that the animal could sniff it. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Stretching out his neck, Cait Sith inspected the hand, nose twitching. Reeve held his breath.

The cat gave a decisive meow, apparently finished with his inspection, and came closer to rub his head against that big hand. 

“You’re a handsome fella, aren't cha?” Barret grinned as he scratched the cat’s ears. As if that hadn’t been shocking enough, the cat began to purr loudly, moving to rub his whole body against Barret.

“He...likes you?” Reeve hadn’t meant to say it aloud but he was too shocked to stop himself.

“Yeah, looks like it.” Barret responded as he ran his hand along the cat’s back to scratch at the spot before his tail. “You’re a real good boy, huh Cait Sith?” The cat meowed as if agreeing with him and Barret chuckled. It was the first time this had ever happened. Reeve’s incredibly smart (but also mischievous) cat, taking a liking to someone the architect was crushing on? He had resigned himself to it never happening. And the way Barret was smiling, petting the cat fondly? Was Reeve in love? It was too soon for that, right? Barret cooed out more praises and the cat meowed happily, making him grin wider.

Reeve’s stomach was all butterflies.

Giving the cat one more rub, Barret stood up, dusting off cat fur as he did. “Would love to stay longer but I have to go pick up Marlene.”

“Of course,” Reeve replied, realizing his idea to invite Barret in for dessert hadn’t come quickly enough. Standing up, he forced a small smile. “Go get your daughter.”

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

Was this the right timing? Would it be weird to kiss the man after he had just mentioned his daughter? Was it too early to kiss him at all? Caught by indecisiveness, Reeve faltered with what to say. 

Cait Sith had no problem butting in though. With a loud meow, he butted his head hard against Reeve’s legs, throwing him off balance. With an embarrassing yelp, he tumbled forward, and right into Barret’s chest. “Cait Sith!” He called, but all his attention was on the sturdy hands that had caught his shoulders, and the way his own hands had flown out to steady him and landed on a very firm set of pecks. They felt exactly how he had imagined them; Barret really was all muscle. What did they feel like without a shirt on, he wondered.

“You okay there?”

“Y-yes! Sorry, I-” Reeve quickly withdrew his hands, not sure whether or not he was pleased that his self control had won out and he hadn’t squeezed the muscle that had just been under his fingertips.

He went to berate the cat, but an angry meow sounded before he could say anything else. What was Cait Sith doing?!

“You’re right, buddy. I guess I am forgetting something.” Nodding to the cat, Barret slid his hands from Reeve’s shoulders down in favor of settling around his waist. “Hey, uh…” he began, looking a tad nervous. “How about a goodnight kiss?”

Reeve stared. Barret...was offering to kiss HIM? He… he didn’t know what to say. “Yes,” was too bland, and “Please,” was too desperate. The milliseconds ticked by and the leader of AVALANCHE raised his eyebrows at the other man’s silence. Reeve pushed back all his trepidation about what might happen, and lunged forward. He slid his hands over and around Barret’s wide shoulders as their lips met, kissing him firmly. Barret’s surprise only lasted a moment, and then he was kissing Reeve back. His hands pulled Reeve closer, and the architect responded by deepening the kiss. A satisfied sound bubbled up from Barret’s throat. Reeve hummed back, his heart pounding. God, he had wanted this.

“Anytime,” Reeve finally replied when their lips parted. 

“Huh?” Barret’s eyes were still unfocused.

“You can kiss me anytime.” Reeve replied, words heavy with want as his date’s dark brown eyes focused on him.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Barret replied with a bit of a grin before leaning in to kiss him again. 

Cait Sith sat down to wash his paw, seemingly satisfied.


	4. Chapter 4

Several weeks had passed since Barret and Reeve’s date without much more than a chaste kiss in the office since then, and Reeve was starting to get antsy. It has been busy, that much was true. They were hitting the first round of deadlines and neither had much time outside of work. To add to everything, school had just ended for the summer, making the single parent busier than usual whisking Marlene off to this or that day camp. There wasn’t much to be done about the lack of time alone, and Reeve definitely didn’t have room to talk when it came to prioritizing work over his social life (That reminded him, he really needed to call his mother.). 

But the more time passed the more Reeve started to second guess the whole thing. Maybe it had all been spur of the moment on Barret’s part and he wasn’t really looking for a relationship. Maybe Reeve had said or done something that made him uninterested. Or maybe, and this is what Reeve feared the most, he wasn’t actually gay, and had just been experimenting.

“You’re quite sure Barret is gay?” Reeve sat on the couch one evening, laptop open with the work he had intended to do, but attention very much on the messaging app open in the phone in his hands. A small meow came from Cait Sith, and he reached over to pet the cat absentmindedly. Small dots at the bottom of the screen indicated that Aerith was typing.

“Tifa said he’s bi!” A message popped up on the screen, surrounded by smiling emoji and quite a few rainbows.

“So you’re sure then?” He typed his response, leaving it plain. The moment he hit send though, his fingers flew to the sticker option at to the right of the text box. He scrolled through until he found one of a cartoon cat that looked suspiciously like Cait Sith. Tapping it quickly, a picture of a cat with a question mark above its head popped into the conversation below his message.

“99% sure!!!” Came the reply.

“Why not 100%?” He quickly responded, hoping the text didn’t betray his own anxieties.

“Just giving him room to grow and change as a person~ Humans aren’t static. We’re always growing~” She elaborated with a row of plant emoji.

Reeve sighed and then responded with a sticker of a cat that looked stressed.

A thumbs up emoji came in reply.

“I can do it… right. Thanks, Aerith.” He said aloud.

Sighing again, he closed the messaging app and opened the default one on his phone. One of the upsides of the past few weeks was that he and Barret had been talking frequently over text. Most of it was superficial—the weather, what Marlene was doing in her summer camps, sometimes they even swapped recipes—but occasionally deeper conversations came up without warning. Most recently, Barret had confided in him that he was worried about his parenting. Any reassurance Reeve had tried to give seemed meaningless in light of his own lack of experience (sure, he had read a lot about cat psychology after Cait Sith came into his life but that just wasn’t the same.). That had been yesterday, and Reeve hadn’t heard from Barret since then. His thumb hovered over the NGO leader’s name. 

With a sigh, he put his phone down.

And then jumped as it started buzzing.

It was a message? From Barret?! He hurriedly opened it, heart banging in his chest. “Look familiar?” The message read. Attached was a picture of Marlene taken from above. She was hard at work on a coloring book, pencils splayed out around her. The subject matter of the book was cats, and without fail, Marlene had colored every single one with the black and white pattern of a tuxedo cat: same as Cait Sith. Every single one?! A laugh escaped Reeve’s mouth. She really was obsessed.

An idea popped into his head, and Reeve reached over to gently scoop up his cat and set him in his lap. Cait Sith’s tail swished irritably, but otherwise he made no complaints. Camera app open, Reeve held up his phone. A little to the left. Down a little… there! He snapped the photo before bringing it down to his face to inspect. No… not quite. He held up the phone again. Several photos later, he finally had one he liked.

Reeve had always thought that sending nudes was crude and tacky. Why would you take incriminating photos that could potentially be discovered by other people? Flattering selfies though? That was just fine. Reeve double checked that the way his shirt was slightly unbuttoned and tie loosened was visible in the photo along with the cat curled in his lap. He looked good, if he said so himself. Maybe he could get a rise out of Barret?

“Having a pleasant evening myself.” He typed, sending it along with the photo before he could regret it.

Settling down at the laptop again, Reeve tried to push his anxieties down and remember just what the hell it was that he had been doing. He squinted at the PDF on his screen, before zooming in and then zooming out again. This design check really didn’t need to be done right now but—

He jumped as his phone buzzed loudly. An incoming VIDEO CALL? From Barret?!

Cait Sith, who’s nap on Reeve’s lap had been disrupted, grumpily stepped off and walked to a cat bed on the other side of the room. 

Panic pumped through his veins full force, and he scrambled to make himself presentable. Oh god, he always looked bad this time of night. Completely forgetting that he had just fixed his shirt for the selfie moments previous, he fussed with his collar and ran his fingers through his hair. Good enough. Hopefully. 

Picking up a phone, he uttered a “Hello?”

“CAIT SITH!” A high pitched screech rang from the phone.

Looking back at him was not the handsome leader he had been expecting, but rather a small girl, hair done up in small pigtails with brightly colored ties, and wearing what was probably a sundress with a flower pattern. 

“M-Marlene?” Reeve croaked.

“Quinoa Man?” She sounded disappointed. “Where’s Cait Sith?”

And then, in the background: “MARLENE! GET BACK HERE!”

There was a flurry of activity of the other side of the screen as Reeve assumed Marlene raced across the house. “Can I see Cait Sith, PLEASE?” She sounded a bit desperate, but definitely not out of breath.

“O-of course, but you have to give the phone back to your dad, okay?”

Marlene looked at him suspiciously. “Promise?” 

“Yes, I promise.” Reeve watched the video shake on the other side as the small girl most likely dashed away from her father again.

“Cross your heart and hope to die?” Her nose crinkled as she frowned with the type of absolute seriousness little girls were prone to. “God D—“ in the background, Barret just barely stopped himself from swearing.

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Reeve repeated, in a voice that he hoped sounded serious.

“Okay,” the girl relented, sliding to a stop. Barret’s face appeared on the screen, looking very frazzled.

“Sorry about that, man. Marlene saw the picture of Cait and just grabbed my phone.”

“It’s fine.” Reeve tried to keep the smile off his face. “You should put her back on actually.”

“Huh?”

“I promised to show her Cait Sith in exchange for returning your phone.”

“Not bad, Tuesti.” Barret looked him over with something like respect. “You’re surprisingly alright with kids.”

Reeve’s cheeks colored. He was grateful when the father passed the phone over to his daughter.

He introduced the girl to his cat, who looked at the phone sleepily but with some interest as Marlene cooed from the other end.

“We’re going to have to let them meet in person someday,” He said when Barret was finally back on the phone.

“That’s actually not a bad idea at all.”

***

“I’m going to meet Cait Sith!!” Marlene announced for the umpteenth time as she bounced up and down as much as her booster seat would allow. 

“That you are,” looking back at his daughter through the rear view mirror, Barret couldn’t hold back a smile. She was wearing her favorites—shoes shaped like race cars, a pink skort, a Very Hungry Caterpillar shirt, and a sun hat that kept falling in her eyes. Tifa had scolded Barret for it before—surely Marlene would look cuter in outfits that weren’t so mismatched. But Barret strongly disagreed. Women, especially young women, spent so much of their lives being policed for their appearances. What was appropriate or inappropriate. What was cute or what was fashionable. Especially while she was young, Marlene should be free to wear whatever she wanted, without worry for what others thought. She looked cute regardless of what she was wearing, and most importantly, she was happy. He grinned at her. “We’re meeting Cait Sith AND Reeve.”

“Cait Sith and Quinoa Man!” She replied brightly, bouncing again.

Barret laughed, pulling into the parking lot of one of the local parks. Correcting her on Reeve’s name didn’t seem worth it; she would grow out of it eventually. Besides, it was funny.

Reeve was waiting for them next to that ridiculous sports car of his. Hanging around his shoulder was something that looked like a sling, but must have been a cat carrier, because small black ears were visible for the top. They went unnoticed by Marlene, who raced over as soon as her seat belt was undone. “Where’s Cait Sith?!” She demanded.

“Marlene, manners,” Barret warned, hands on his hips.

Marlene pouted for a moment and then hastily added: “Hello, Quinoa Man. I want to see Cait Sith.” And then, as an afterthought. “PLEASE.”

Reeve, looking a bit nervous, explained that they needed to use magic to summon the cat, and it wasn’t possible without her help. After looking to Barret for permission, he taught her the “magic words” (which sounded Gaelic to Barret), and instructed her to close her eyes and then say the words on the count of three. Absolutely mystified, Marlene readily agreed, squeezing her eyes shut and making little fists in determination. On Reeve’s mark, she took a deep breath, and then shouted out the words—butchered, but identifiable nonetheless. 

“Look!” The architect exclaimed, and Marlene’s eyes shot open.

“CAIT SITH!” Her voice was all but a scream, and she grabbed at the cat whose head was now poking out of the pouch.

Barret warned her again, and she pulled her hands back, only slightly deterred. As soon as Reeve set the cat down on the grass, she was practically on top of it, small face only few inches away from white whiskers.

“Hello my name is Marlene Wallace it’s nice to meet you Cait Sith.” She said without pausing once.

The cat, slightly startled and cautious, slowly sniffed at her outstretched hand.

“You’re a pretty kitty,” she cooed.

The compliments seemed to do the trick, and Cait Sith finally allowed himself to be subjected to Marlene’s attention. 

The single father watched, ready to jump in at any moment, but glad that Marlene seemed to remember from her time with Tifa’s cat that felines preferred to be petted gently. From ears to tail, Marlene petted and scratched, and before long the black and white cat was purring. Once it seemed obvious that the little girl would be careful with his cat, Reeve produced a small leash and harness (made from fancy red leather), and Marlene gleefully took off across the grass. Cait Sith trotted alongside her, seemingly happy to stretch his legs.

“You sure that’s a cat you got there?” Barret asked with a chuckle as he and Reeve sat down on a bench with a clear view of the field Marlene was racing through.

“A very special cat,” Reeve replied, and Barret wondered if he was teasing. 

“Speaking of special, what was that back there with the magic words? Didn’t expect you to be such a charmer; Marlene totally ate it up.”

Reeve turned away, embarrassed but with the hint of red on his cheeks. “Glad she liked it.”

“Liked? She is in love,” the father commented as he watched his daughter roll through the grass with the cat. “It’s gonna be hard to get her to say goodbye later.”

“We’ll just have to do this more often then.” Reeve was looking out at the field as he said it.

“Hey man… thank you. I feel bad that this isn’t a proper date but…” he paused to scoot closer so their shoulders touched. “I’m real happy to see you. I missed you, y’know.” 

“Missed? We see each other almost every weekday.” But he was smiling as he said it.

Barret shoved at him, not sure whether to be amused or perplexed. “Don’t try playing coy with me, Mr. Famous Architect. You know exactly what I mean.” When Reeve only didn’t respond, he continued “I’ve got you all figured out.”

“Oh~?” said Reeve, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, you act all cool and composed but really,” Barret paused to check that Marlene was preoccupied before leaning in close, breath on Reeve’s ear. “You’re just a big sap.” And with that, he planted a quick kiss on the other man’s cheek. If he hadn’t been so close, he might have missed the quiet gasp and the way Reeve’s cheeks colored. Exactly what he had been hoping for.

“Maybe you’re right,” came the reply as Reeve slid his hand into Barret’s.

Barret squeezed it gently.

***

“Daddy! Quinoa Man!” Marlene came running back with a shout, and both men were up in an instant.

“What is it?!” Barret’s voice was all urgency as he dashed to meet his daughter half way. 

“Is it okay if Cait Sith ate a grasshopper? Also like five ladybugs.”

The big man almost fell to his knees in relief; thank god it wasn’t a real emergency “Well Reeve?” He finally managed, looking back at the other man.

The architect scowled at the cat, who sat at the girl’s feet, licking his paw nonchalantly. “Cait Sith, you have more than enough protein in your diet.”

The cat meowed in response.

“Are you angry because you know I have treats in the car?”

Another meow, louder this time.

Crouching down so he was closer to the cat’s level, Reeve began. “You know those are only a reward for doing tricks.”

The cat just flicked his tail and looked away.

“Well?” Reeve asked, very much as if he was speaking with a difficult child. “Don’t you want to show off for Marlene and Barret?”

After a moment that seemed suspiciously like consideration, he cat locked eyes with his owner and gave a soft chirp-like meow.

“That’s what I thought.” Smiling softly Reeve stood up. And then, to the father-daughter pair: “Just a moment. I’ll go get the treats.”

As the Wallaces watched on in amazement, Reeve was able to get Cait Sith to perform everything from elaborate jumps to giving Marlene a high five. Barret knew the cat was smart, but this was undeniably impressive; he had seen cats do back flips in mid air before, but seeing Cait Sith do it on command was something else. When they finished, the smug looking cat did something like a little bow. The father-daughter pair gave him an enthusiastic applause.

“You sure that’s a cat you got there?” Barret asked for the second time that day.

“He’s a magical cat!!” Marlene declared loudly. Her joy must have been infectious because when the cat replied with a pleased meow, they both laughed.

***

After that, “dates,” with the two men spending time playing with Marlene became a frequent thing. More trips to the park (with Cait Sith), a short day hike (without Cait Sith), several movie nights at Reeve’s posh apartment (with more snacks (vegan, of course) than Marlene could eat, though she did her best)—spending time with Reeve was so easy. Barret loved it, but also felt a bit bad. Surely this isn’t what Reeve had hoped for when they had started dating. But when confronted about it, Reeve disagreed: 

“I couldn’t date you and just ignore Marlene’s existence. She’s your daughter, Barret. You’re a set.”

And Barret hadn’t known what to say to that. No one he’d dated had ever paid such close attention to Marlene before. Or if they had, they hadn’t been people Barret had been romantically interested in. When was the last time he had had so much fun on a date? When was the last time he had actually felt like pursuing someone after the first few?

“Barret?” Worried at the lack of a response, Reeve looked at him questioningly.

But Barret didn’t have any more questions of his own. 

He reached down and pulled Reeve into a deep kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a part in this chapter where I write about professions I know little about aside from a few google searches, so I apologize if anything sounds off. 
> 
> Also this chapter kind of ran away from me and ended up almost twice the length of the previous chapters, so enjoy lol.

Jessie hummed to herself as she left the offices of AVALANCHE, pleased after a long day of good work, and looking forward to cooking whatever she felt like when she got home. Things were good at the NGO these days. Not that they weren’t always good, but this project really had them all excited, and a feeling of unity gripped the whole team. She had been a bit worried about the architect for this project (or rather, worried about how her boss would react to him), but he had integrated himself smoothly into their little group. Best of all, he had stopped being so jumpy around Barret a few months back. She expected them to argue, and while they did disagree over small details here and there, they seemed to have struck up a strong friendship. The mural respect was strong. And the way they teased each other was cute. It almost made her wonder… Either way, the atmosphere at work was good, the late summer sun was still high in the sky, and Jessie was thinking about a good meal and a cool beer.

“Oh shoot.” She had made it all the way back to her car and even started the ignition before realizing that she had forgotten her water bottle (more of a cantine really). With a sigh, she headed back. 

The object in question was sitting on her desk right where she had left it. With a grin, she swiped it off and into her hands, and would have left again if not for the voices she heard coming from Reeve’s temporary office.

Was that… arguing?

But Barret and Reeve should have been the only people still here…

Finding it incredibly odd that the two would be fighting, Jessie let her curiosity get the better of her and tiptoed towards the office door. 

Through the slightly open door, she could see her boss and the architect. They looked to be involved in something heated—they were facing each other and Barret had (most likely) backed Reeve up against his desk. Was it something to do with the new wing they decided to add to the center they were building? But no, what had sounded like arguing at first was something different. There was no anger in their tones. Was Barret teasing him? The two got really close, and that’s when it hit Jessie.

They were flirting.

The two managed to get closer, confirming Jessie’s suspicions. It was hard to tell from this angle but based on how all conversation ceased, they were probably kissing. Reeve slid his arms up around Barret’s broad shoulders, and Jessie was sure of it. They were kissing. Was this a new development? It didn’t seem like it; not from the way the two moved against each other seamlessly. 

Barret lifted Reeve up and onto the desk, and the architect replied by wrapping his long legs around the other man. Touches demanded more touches, and soon a prosthetic hand was running through Reeve’s dark hair, pulling him into a deeper kiss.

The architect moaned desperately and Jessie took that as her clue to slip away.

It was only after she had silently closed the front door of AVALANCHE’s office that she risked chuckling quietly to herself. After all this time, Barret had finally found himself a partner. The team had almost given up on him too—he never seemed interested when they tried to set him up after all. 

***

The next morning, Jessie made sure to catch her boss in the office’s tiny back room that doubled as the team’s kitchen. He was cradling a hot cup of coffee in one hand while looking over documents on his phone with the other. It seemed odd that he would use his real hand for the coffee, but that was Barret.

“I finally figured out your type,” she purred smugly as she squeezed past a file cabinet and leaned against the mini counter next to him.

He chuckled into his cup of coffee, not bothering to look up. “Uh huh?” 

“Tall. Well groomed.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Goes by the name of Reeve Tuesti.” 

Somehow he managed to not spit out his coffee.

“Congrats by the way. How long have you been dating?” 

Barret sighed and set the coffee down so he could rub at his face. “If you know then that means the rest of them team knows too, huh?” 

“I haven’t told them yet, but you should. It’s not like you to keep secrets from us, Barret.” There was something accusing there, something hurt.

“I wasn’t planning on it, just... I didn’t think it would go anywhere at first so I didn’t say anything but then... I guess... I didn’t want to jinx it?” Jessie watched him quietly, letting him finish without comment. “He’s never tried to put himself before Marlene. Not once. He’s always so understanding and...” Barret paused at this point. His eyes were looking at the ceiling but it was obvious the only thing he was seeing at that moment was the tall architect. “...I like being with him. He really gets it, y’know, what we’re trying to do? What we’re doing.” He looked over to Jessie at this point and she bumped her fist to his in silent solidarity. “He wants to make a difference too.” Barret looked off into the distance again, a small smile appearing on his face. “He’s so good with Marlene too. He doesn’t think so but...He cares. He really cares and that... that makes the difference...” 

Jessie smiled softly, a sharp contrast to the shit eating grin she had worn when coming into the room earlier. “You’re totally in love with him aren’t you?” It was the first thing that came to mind, but she was sure it was true.

Startled eyes jolted up to meet her before glancing down as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Yeah... I think I am...”

“I’m really glad for you, man.” When Barret just smiled in response, she punched him in the shoulder. “It’s about damn time.”

“So, you forgive me then?”

“Hell no. You definitely owe the team a cake.” The shit eating grin was back.

Barret let out a bark of laughter. “I suppose you wouldn’t let me off that easily, huh?”

“Nope!” She was all smiles.

***

The whole team had gathered in the break room, and Biggs was pissed.

“You all know how I feel about putting blank events on the Goggle Calendar! Just write something, anything!” He looked around at the group. When no one answered him, he added with a sigh “A single word even.”

Behind him, Barret cleared out his throat loudly and the whole team turned first to look at him, and then at the huge box in his hands. It was decorated with a polka dot pattern in familiar pastel pinks and greens. And in an instant all the team knew exactly what was in it, and why Barret had it.

All the team that is, except for Reeve.

“Sorry, I’ll write ‘Apology Cake’ on the Goggle Calendar next time,” Barret supplied, putting the cake box down on the conference table.

“An apology cake?” 

Biggs leaned over and explained: “It’s tradition that whenever someone makes a big screw up they buy the team a cake from Tifa’s place as an apology.” 

“But before we eat it, we have to guess what they did.” Jessie chimed in gleefully as Barret shifted from foot to foot anxiously. 

“That’s... quite the tradition.”

“Everyone makes mistakes but it’s important to apologize.” Wedge added with a smile. 

“Would y’all just hurry up and guess already?”

It took the team quite a while to guess, Barret looking nervous while Jessie’s smile only grew. They all finally settled on two reasons for the cake: “doing unprofessional things at work” and “something else.” It was as close as they were gonna get, he figured. After a somewhat resigned sigh, Barret held out a hand towards Reeve. “Babe, you ready for this?”

Reeve blinked. Oh. OH! This was the timing the two of them talked about earlier. Pushing his anxieties down, he tried to tug his lips into a smile as he stepped closer to take the team leader’s hand in his.

“Babe?!” Biggs asked, clearly confused.

Giving the hand a little squeeze, Barret cleared his throat, and finally elaborated on the meaning behind the cake. “Reeve and I are dating. Sorry I didn’t tell y’all earlier.” 

“I KNEW IT!” Biggs slammed his fist on the table, startling everyone but Jessie, who just laughed. He turned on her immediately: “You knew?!” Jessie started to explain but he cut her off: “I can’t believe you knew but didn’t tell us!!” 

“Okay but it’s my turn for a question,” she said brightly, waving her hand. “I wanna know where you two banged in the office!”

“Jessie!” A loud gasp came from Wedge, who was completely scandalized. “You can’t just ask that!”

Holding up his free hand placatingly, Barret tried to reassure the team. “Hey, this is a professional space. I can assure you we did not have sex in the office.”

Yet. Reeve thought.

“You DIDN’T?!” The gasp came, surprisingly, from Wedge, who managed to sound more scandalized than he did at Jessie’s question. “I left early time and time again so you two could be by yourselves!”

“YOU KNEW TOO?!” Biggs shouted, appalled that he had been betrayed by both of his teammates.

“There there,” Jessie attempted to placate him with a large slice from the cake she just started cutting.

“Congratulations, Barret!” Wedge smiled. “And you too, Reeve! Welcome to the family!”

Reeve almost choked on that last word. F-family? 

Laughing, Barret slapped his back and led him to the table where cake slices were already waiting for them.

***

The late summer sun was still high in the sky, but Reeve didn’t let that fool him; he knew he would have to take Barret back to the office before sunset. But for now, they were close: Reeve’s head against the other man’s shoulder and Barret’s sturdy hand resting teasingly on his thigh. It was one of the few times the architect had been able to show off and drive the other around town in his fast car. It was perfect for this weather—the heat meant nothing when the top was down and Reeve was stepping on the gas. For the end of their little drive though, he had taken the car up a precariously narrow road to an outcropping overlooking the city. There was a little vantage point where he had parked the shiny black car so the two of them could share a quiet moment enjoying the scenery.

Quiet though it may be, Reeve was all too aware of the hand resting on his thigh. 

And where he wanted it to be.

It had been oh so tempting to skip the city drive and instead head straight back to his apartment--take Barret to his bed. But there would have been little time for much more than the action itself, and the more Reeve waited, the more he wanted their first time to be something special, or at least have a whole evening to themselves. Besides, there had been a few things over the course of the day that left him unsettled.

“You didn’t tell me about the cake,” Reeve finally ventured, not moving from his place nestled up against his boyfriend.

“Oh shoot, really?” Barret sounded like he genuinely did feel bad. “Sorry, sometimes it feels like you’ve been on the team for so long that I forget you’re not in on all the inside jokes.”

There it was again.

It had been about a half a year now, a few months of infatuation and a few months of dating, and yet, there was still so much he didn’t know. Content to take it slow, let them open up to each other at their own paces, Reeve hadn’t pushed.

But today Wedge had called him family…

“There’s still so much I don’t know about you.” It all came tumbling out in a messy string of questions. When had Barret founded AVALANCHE? What had driven him to make his own NGO and not just join someone else’s? What was the REAL reason he was vegan? Did it have to do with how Marlene was lactose intolerant or was it a completely different reason? When had he lost his hand? What about…? And here Reeve closed his mouth, not quite ready to give word to his thoughts. 

What about Marlene’s mother?

He had seen the ring that Barret wore on a chain around his neck. Usually it was tucked under his clothes, safe and warm against his skin. The first time he had caught a glimpse of it, he had thought it was some sort of fashion accessory and casually commented on it. Barret had gone rigid right there: a sudden wall of ice when he was usually good humored. That was when Reeve had become certain it was a wedding band--a leftover artifact from a past marriage. Maybe even the marriage that had produced Barret’s beloved daughter.

But he didn’t dare ask.

He let the thoughts about THAT die where they were--he had already asked too much. He could feel how Barret had stiffened against him. It really was too early, wasn’t it?

“That’s a load of questions you’ve got there.” He chuckled, but it sounded forced. “How about we take them one by one?” Barret shifted away and Reeve straightened up so they could look each other in the eye. “Why don’t we start by you telling me what made you take on this project with AVALANCHE? Jessie said you gave us a “discount” because it’s a green project, but I saw the rates on your website. There’s no way our little NGO could even begin to afford you. What’s the real reason you agreed to work with us on this project?”

Okay, starting with him sharing his own motivations. Reeve could work with that. He took a deep breath and then launched in. “The center we’re building and the associated clean up project are in the Condor Canyon, right? I used to play there and by old Fort Condor as a kid. I remember how beautiful it was before, well…”

“Shinra,” Barret supplied with an extra helping of disgust.

“Yes, before Shinra. So when I saw that an NGO was pitching a project to clean it up and build a nature conservation center there, I knew I wanted to be involved. The money wasn’t an issue; I can afford to cut my own salary and live a little cheaper than usual if it means cleaning up after Shinra.”

“Talking big there, Mr.Architect.”

“Don’t patronize me, Barret.” Reeve sighed, looking out across the city. “Shinra hired me fresh out of college. It was my first full time job. Their PR really worked on me; I was so excited to be working in such a big company despite having no experience. Maybe that’s why it took me almost a decade of working there to realize Shinra wasn’t all it wants the public to think it is.”

“...understandable,” Barret supplied in a voice that was all too soft. “What made you finally make the big decision to leave?”

“Honestly,” Reeve began, realizing it was his turn to ask Barret a question, but having gotten a little too caught up in his own story to stop. “There was one incident. Shinra somehow kept it fairly quiet despite how big it was but…” Reeve paused, deciding that he should avoid sharing how he had learned about it despite being just an architect in the company. No one needed to know that he had dated the Vice President, however briefly. “It was so shocking that it made me look into other incidents involving the company… Shinra‘s just out for money; the destruction they leave in their wake means nothing in comparison to their profits.”

“What incident?” Barret was frowning slightly.

“No fair. You asked me two questions already.” Reeve hoped his face wasn’t forming into a pout but the way the other man’s eyebrows lifted made him think he was.

“Fine, your turn.”

“You mentioned before that you also used to work for Shinra. What did you do?” 

Barret met his straight on look with one of his own, obviously slightly uncomfortable but not about to waver at all. “Starting off with the hard questions I see.” When Reeve just kept looking at him, he gave a little sigh. “... I worked on Shinra’s oil rigs. I was a foreman for a while.”

Reece’s eyes widened and the next question tumbled out. “Which rigs?”

“Nu-uh, it’s my turn to ask a question. What was the incident that made you decide to leave?” His eyes seemed to bore into the architect, and Reeve knew that he would accept nothing less than a full explanation. He swallowed.

“The Corel Oil Rig Incident…” Reeve paused to give himself time to select his words very carefully. “I heard that despite being aware the area was dangerous, the company chose to build a rig there regardless because oil prices were so high at the time.” Barret’s face had gone dark and stoney, but Reeve knew he had to continue. “They made up fake surveys to convince the crew it was safe. And it was, for a very short time, until disaster struck, as it would in such dangerous waters. But apparently the money they made from the oil over that short time was more than enough to cover the cost of the rig—“ 

The door slammed behind Barret.

“B-Barret?!” Reeve didn’t even bother to yank the keys out of the ignition before chasing after him.

By the time Reeve caught up, he was standing far away, at the very edge of the cliff overlooking the city. It was a steep drop to the valley below. His hands were clenched into tight fists.

“Barret…” Reeve wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to reach out to Barret or not. Wasn’t sure if Barret wanted him to reach out or not. The wind buffeted over the cliff edge, strong enough to make Reeve feel like he was being pushed back. He stood his ground and waited.

Finally, Barret took a deep breath.

“Do you remember how many lives were lost in that incident?”

Reeve froze. Of course. Of course it wouldn’t have just been Barret who had been affected.

“12 dead and 25 injured.” Barret answered his own question. Spat out the numbers like they were still fresh on his mind. Like they rubbed him raw. “They told us it was a machinery problem at first, and then later said that it was operator failure.” His laughter came out heavy and bitter. “I worked on rigs almost my whole life. My best buddy Dyne and I both got a job working on rigs fresh out of high school. Working on rigs paid my tuition so I could take night classes and get my bachelor’s. I met my wife working on rigs…” Barret clutched at his chest, and Reeve had to wonder if he was actually grabbing for that ring. “I know what sort of accidents can happen on rigs. I have seen people get hurt before. But not like that. That was something that could have been completely avoided. And I knew that they knew. I knew that those Shinra bastards had just been out for money! I was gonna fight them! I was gonna tell the whole world about what evil they were up to! But...”

He sighed and the anger seemed to flow out with it. “Dyne and I made a promise to look after each other’s families, y’see? If anything happened to me he would look after Myrna and if anything happened to him, I would look after Eleanor. She was expecting—it was gonna be a little baby girl. They were gonna name her Marlene, after Dyne’s mother who died when he was little. But losing Dyne was too much for Eleanor. The doctor said there were complications with the birth but… But I can’t help but wondering what would have happened if Dyne had been there with her instead of me.” 

If Barret was usually a rock wall, then here he was crumbling. His face downwards, his body limp, as if even the anger couldn’t hold him up. 

Reeve couldn’t hold back anymore.

He wrapped his arms around Barret from behind and held him as close as he could. Neither man spoke.

It was the architect who broke the silence. “I always thought that Marlene was your biological daughter.” And it was this statement that brought the ex-foreman back to the present. He scoffed at the ridiculousness of it.

“How? We look nothing alike.“

“Your mannerisms.” Reeve cut him off, not confident in what words to use, but confident in his own observations. “You have the exact same smile, did you know that? And when Marlene gets frustrated she squares her shoulders back and balls her hands into fists—I’ve seen you do the exact same thing when you dealt with that asshole from the Bureau of Land Management last week.” He felt, more than heard, Barret’s soft laugh at this. “She’s just like you, y’know? And it’s so obvious that you love her more than anything else in the world. That you would do anything to keep her safe and happy. That you want to make sure she has a world to grow up in.”

“I’m going to.” The words came out quiet but with no lack of conviction.

“I’ll have you know I did a lot of research into AVALANCHE’s past projects before I made my offer. I wanted to be sure I was teaming up with a group that could actually handle the scope of the project. And I was blown away. You all really have done such good work over such a short time. And with such a small team. Don’t think I didn’t have my doubts.”

“We’re here to make a difference.” Barret responded, like it was a motto.

“And you have.” Reeve emphasized this by squeezing him tightly. “When I heard you speak for the first time, suddenly everything made sense. With someone like you leading the team, anything was possible! It’s no wonder you’ve been able to make such a difference, Barret.”

Barret didn’t respond and Reeve took that as his cue to be silent as well. It was a lot. All at once too. It would certainly take the architect time to wrap his head around all that—Barret at the center of the Corel Incident. The names he had mentioned… so he had lost his wife and his best friend, and others that he had cared about as well by the sound of it. Reeve thought that something like that would have made him hard. Hesitant to reach out again. But if AVALANCHE was any indicator, Barret had made a new world around himself. He had moved forward. 

As much as one could, anyway.

After a long silence, the big man shifted in his boyfriend’s arms, so they were facing each other now. His features were neutral, but Reeve could see the rage and hurt still barely under the surface. For now though, he had pushed them away. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Reeve replied, hesitant and worried.

“Thank you,” was the only warning he gave before leaning down to kiss Reeve firmly and wholey. His lips captured Reeve, who let out a soft gasp of surprise before responding back with just as much care. “Stay with me tonight.” Barret whispered when he finally pulled away.

“Wh- But I thought—“

Barret cut him off, already aware of what his question was going to be. “No sex this time, just… stay next to me. In the same bed. I…”

And Reeve caught his meaning immediately. “Of course.” If his presence could be of any comfort to this amazing man, who had shouldered so much on his own…

That night, Barret fell asleep with an arm wrapped around Reeve’s waist. 

***

It had been a few weeks since the apology cake and the teasing at work had mostly died down. Mostly. Jessie sometimes cat called them when they were in each other’s offices (“We’re ACTUALLY working, Jessie.” “Suuuuuure you are~.”), Wedge always announced loudly when he was the last of the trio to leave the office, and Biggs always knocked loudly on Barret’s office door. The teasing did come with one perk though, and that was that Jessie had offered to babysit Marlene on a Friday night so they could go out a little later than usual. Barret was determined to let Reeve have his way after the casual dates--getting them a reservation at a fancy place, and showing up in a pressed shirt and suit jacket. He even let Reeve drive.

It was lovely, and was over before they both realized.

Reeve pulled up at Barret’s house, hoping the melancholy he was feeling didn’t show on his face; the time together just never felt like enough. He was tempted to say as much when he looked over to see shock on Barret’s face.

“What the hell?!” The exclamation startled him and he followed Barret’s line of sight to see what had gotten him so upset. They were in front of the modest house Barret had been renting for years. Instead of grass, there was a small, slightly neglected garden, and a driveway large enough for two cars. Barret’s Jeep was parked on the left side and the right side was empty. Wait, empty? Where was Jessie’s car? “What the hell, Jessie?! She better not be taking Marlene out on another evening adventure.” Barret scowled as he yanked his phone out of his pocket with a little too much force. Reeve made a note to ask about Jessie’s previous exploits when the worried father didn’t look like he was going to commit murder.

Silence filled the car as the phone on the other end rang for what seemed like way too long. Barret tapped his foot anxiously as his grip on the phone got tighter. Finally, Jessie picked up.

“Oh, hi Barret! You’re right on time! No surprises there!” She seemed chipper as usual.

“Where the hell are you?!” Barret looked like it was taking all his control not to yell into the receiver.

“Marlene and I are having a girl’s night at Tifa and Aerith’s place! Here, let me put her on!” Before Barret could protest, Jessie was already passing the phone off.

“Daddy!! We’re gonna watch Godzilla!” She squealed in excitement; it was one of the Wallace family favorites, but Barret tried not to let her watch it too often because of how scary it was. “I finished my homework already and promise not to stay up too late. Can I stay over? Pretty please??” 

Barret sighed. It has been a while since she’d had a sleepover at Tifa and Aerith’s place, and he trusted them (not Jessie, definitely not Jessie) to make sure she was in bed at a decent time. “What are you gonna do before you go to bed?” 

Realizing that she had gotten her way, Marlene answered cheerfully. “Brush my teeth and say thank you to the planet!” 

“That’s my girl. Have fun.”

“Thanks Daddy! You’re the best!”

Within moments, Jessie was back on the phone. “Well, it sounds like you’ve got the house ALL TO YOURSELVES. Don’t have too much fun.” Barret could practically hear her winking. “You’re welcome~” And with that, she hung up.

Barret glared at his phone, only looking up when Reeve started chuckling. “Don’t tell me you’re in on this too?!” 

Reeve stopped laughing but the grin was still audible in his voice when he replied: “Of course not! Jessie told me to keep my Saturday open and have a change of clothes in my car. So I figured we were all going camping or something. But this is much better~” He practically purred as he reached over to pull Barret into a deep kiss. 

He let his lips linger there, close even after they had stopped. A hand reached out to run along the side of Barret’s face, then around the edge of his ear and down his neck to his collarbone. A shiver followed his touches, and he savored it, heavy with anticipation.

“I guess I have to invite you in, huh?” Barret’s voice was deeper than usual, a bit husky. Reeve felt his heartbeat quicken.

“I suppose,” Reeve replied, lips hot against his boyfriend’s ear.

It was a wonder they made it into the house fully dressed.

The kisses paused only so Barret could lock the door in the entryway and rip off his jacket, and then he was on Reeve again, both arms pulling him in close as his legs pushed Reeve backwards, guiding him towards the kitchen and the stairway beyond. The architect’s legs bumped up against the kitchen counter, and Barret followed, pressing hard against him. A soft groan escaped his lips. He wanted more. He wanted everything Barret had to give. He hooked a leg up high around the NGO leader’s waist, hungry.

"Well, are you going to invite me up to your bedroom already?" Reeve asked, breathless.

“Maybe I should take you right here,” Barret grinned, but his eyes were half-lidded--focused on the other man pressed up against him. “You seemed to like it when I pushed you up against your desk at work.” He demonstrated by grinding roughly against Reeve, who bit down on his lips to stifle a moan. “But you’re right, this time we should go to the bedroom.”

He went in for another kiss, and then paused half way, as if something had just clicked in his brain. “Shit, the bedroom.”

Reeve blinked at him slowly, his brain still a bit addled. “What’s wrong?”

Leaning away with a sigh, Barret rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. "I missed cleaning day this week because of that big deadline, so my room is kinda.. y'know..." He looked away, embarrassed.

Desperately missing the pressure of his boyfriend’s body, but amused at his embarrassment, Reeve left out a small snort. “You're still worried about impressions after all this time?" When Barret’s sullen expression failed to soften, Reeve reached out to put a hand to his face. "Hey, how about you take five or so minutes to clean? I've waited all these months, waiting a little longer isn’t going to change anything."

His boyfriend’s eyes lit up, and he captured Reeve in a full kiss. "You're the best, Reeve. I really do love you." 

Did he--? Did he just say--?

Reeve’s heart must have been beating at the speed of light, because all he could do was stare at Barret, dumbfounded, red.

“Hey, you okay?”

“That’s…” Reeve had to pause to collect himself. "That's the first time you've ever said ‘I love you.’ "

Barret just frowned. “I thought I said it the other night, when you stayed over.”

Reeve blinked at him. “No, I think your exact words were. ‘I can’t believe you’re mine’ “

“Oh,” Barret’s eyebrows rose, impressed with his boyfriend’s memory, and then he was smiling. “I guess I have to say it again then, to make up for last time.” Without missing a beat, he pulled Reeve into another full kiss, slow and tender, only pulling back to whisper in his ear: “I love you, Reeve Tuesti.”

And then, he had slipped away and out of arm’s reach; the architect could only stare after him, brain moving at overtime but with no results.

“Be back in a flash.” With a wink, he disappeared into his bedroom doorway.

Reeve melted against the kitchen counter, very much overwhelmed but enjoying every moment of it. Barret Wallace, huh? He was most definitely in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is mostly smut, so if you want to avoid that I would advise stopping here!  
> Thanks so much for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, thanks so much for reading this far!
> 
> This chapter is the reason this fic is rated E, and mostly just smut, so please be warned! 
> 
> I haven't written smut in ages (the things I do for this pairing), so my apologies if it isn't any good. Also this chapter is un-beta'd so sorry if you catch typos.
> 
> Enjoy?

Fall had lit up the city with an array of yellows and reds, taking the sun to sleep earlier with it, and leaving the Earth crisp and cool. It was a Thursday and despite how busy things were at the office, Barret’s team had all left at the normal time, leaving the team leader alone with the architect. They had been making so much steady progress recently—it would be time to break ground soon enough. It was exciting, seeing things move forward at such a pace. But Reeve had more important things in mind as he quietly locked the front door and hit the front room lights. He couldn’t keep a small smile off his face as he advanced into the back of the small office, towards where Barret was working at his desk.

Today was the day.

Today was the day he finally convinced Barret to let them have sex in the office.

As understandable as Barret’s desire to keep the office a professional space was, Reeve also felt the need to point out that they had already made out numerous times in both of their offices (and that one time in the back room). Sure, there was a difference between the two but they were both sexual activities, right? Plus, it had been weeks since they had done it last; it would be nice to have another place to bang.

Today was the day for three important reasons. First off, it was Thursday, which meant Marlene was doing club activities and Barret could stay late. Second, everyone else had gone home on time. Finally, and most importantly, Barret was wearing a fitted white button up.

Though the head of AVALANCHE preferred casual clothes, on the occasion that they had to meet with a client, or public figure Barret would grudgingly don something more formal. Reeve had never seen him in a tie, but he would toss on a suit jacket in the cooler months, or a button up shirt in the warmer ones. Of the button ups, he had a particular white one that set Reeve on edge. Normally, one should wear an undershirt with a button up, especially a white one, but it seemed as if Barret couldn’t be bothered. The fabric pulled right across his biceps, and most importantly, his pecs, leaving little up to imagination. It almost wasn’t fair, how good he looked in it. One time he had been giving a presentation in the shirt, and when he reached up the buttons had strained against the fabric, almost like they would pop off. Reeve wanted them to pop off. He wanted that chest under his fingers again.

And today, he was determined to get it.

Sauntering into Barret’s office, he slid his arms around the bigger man’s shoulders as he gave him a brief kiss on his temple: “Good work today.”

“I’ll be done in a sec.” Barret leaned back in his chair so he could return the kiss before returning his attention to his computer.

“Take your time,” Reeve responded, trying to keep the smugness out of his voice. He slid his hands over Barret’s shoulders slowly, making small circles before he began to massage him in earnest. When the other man made soft sounds of approval, he moved to where Barret’s neck met his shoulders. 

“...that’s nice,” he mumbled from behind eyelids that had slipped closed.

Reeve grinned, pressing his thumbs in hard at the base of the NGO leader’s neck. “Lend me your arms for a moment. I want to try something new.”

Having already given up on his task the moment Reeve’s massage began, Barret slid his arms behind his back without complaint, sighing contentedly as his boyfriend rubbed them slowly one arm at a time. Reeve finished his left arm before switching to the right, moving slowly from his shoulder all the way down to where the fresh met with metal. Barret made another content sound; this was certainly a nice way to finish off a long day. He almost missed the sound of Reeve pulling off his tie. What he didn’t miss though, was the feeling of that same maroon fabric being wrapped tightly around his wrists, binding them together.

“Uh, Babe?”

But Reeve was already slipping around the chair, and climbing on top of Barret. It was a little awkward on the office chair, but he managed to straddle him, looking incredibly smug. “Barret~?” He all but purred in response, moving his face so their noses were almost touching.

“Is this where we should be doing this?” Barret said with a single raised eyebrow. Reeve knew that tone. It was the tone he used with Marlene when she was misbehaving. 

“This is exactly where we should be doing this,” Reeve responded as he planted kisses along Barret’s jaw.

“Hmm, I think you’re going to have to convince me of that.” His voice was deep, but Reeve knew he could make it go deeper. 

The request was clear though, and he leaned back to oblige. Taking a deep breath, he launched into one of many explanations he had thought of to change Barret’s mind.

“I know you don’t care what other people think but, if the rest of the team already assumes that we’re having sex in the office then I don’t see why we-- what?” Reeve’s brow furrowed. The other man was laughing, LAUGHING at him.

“Ahaha, god, Reeve.” He had to take a deep breath to stop the chuckles. Reeve would have normally loved the way his deep laughter resonated from his chest, but the source of Barret’s mirth was a complete mystery to him. “God, here we are, with you on top of me, and when I ask you to convince me to have sex, you give me a lecture.” When Reeve just blinked, confused, another laugh escaped Barret’s lips. “Classic Reeve.”

“I-” Reeve was fairly sure he should be offended at this point.

“Hey.” The tone of Barret’s voice caught Reeve’s attention immediately, it was deep, alluring. “Convince me.” He said again, and the architect felt all his blood flow south.

Oh.

He swallowed slowly, suddenly hyper aware of all the places their bodies were touching. Why was he getting embarrassed? This had been his idea!

When he hesitated, Barret very slowly raised an eyebrow at him. Teasing. Daring him to rise to the challenge.

Reeve swallowed. “Oh, I’ll convince you alright.” He silenced Barret’s chuckles with a firm kiss, holding the position for a moment before shifting his head to the side so he could slip his tongue between their lips. All the while pushing himself back flush to his partner, his hands holding Barret in place.

“That all you got?” Barret’s deep voice hummed from between their lips.

It couldn’t be helped.

It was time to go for the main course.

Barret’s pecs were under his fingertips in a flash. Firm even through the fabric of his shirt, they felt incredible to Reeve, who ended up cupping them with both hands. He squeezed them softly even as Barret grinned at him, like he had been expecting this to happen. Reeve ignored him in favor of running his fingers attentively over his muscled chest. Ah, there they were. He pinched Barret’s nipples through the fabric.

Taking one in his mouth, he sucked on it purposefully. Savoringly. When the thin fabric was wet with his saliva, he bit down softly, pleased at the soft gasp this elicited from Barret. He pulled back to admire his handiwork and the nipple came with him, pushing firm and erect against the wet shirt. Now for the other one. Pleased sounds escaped his lips as he teased at Barret’s chest with his mouth and fingers, but they were nothing compared to the low groans that were coming from his lover.

“Convinced?” He said from a mouthful of tit.

“Naw,” but his voice was breathy and low. “Ain’t quittin’ so early. Plus,” he leaned forward at this part, puffing his chest out slightly. “Wanna see what your next move is.”

Distracting his boyfriend with wet kisses, Reeve gave the nipples one more tweak before making his “next move.” Button by button, he began opening the white shirt, exposing Barret’s dark skin and toned chest. Barret sighed softly against his boyfriend’s lips, almost as if he had been waiting for this. But instead of undoing the shirt all the way, Reeve’s fingers paused at a little past the halfway point. He ran his fingers back up the way he came, leaving soft touches in his wake. When he got to the collar, he pulled the shirt open as far as it would go and pushed it over Barret’s shoulders—the fabric pulled tight; there was only enough give that it bunched right beneath his pecs. From there up it was bare. 

Reeve licked his lips absentmindedly, attention entirely focused on Barret’s partially bare form before him. This was much better than he imagined. Tentatively reaching out, he let his hands roam across that incredible chest, loving the feeling of Barret’s coarse hair and firm muscle. He took a nipple softly in his mouth, running tongue around the edge before teasing the very tip. Barret moaned underneath him. Ah yes, this was much, much better than he had imagined.

“You buy the cake.” Reeve heard the voice as much as he felt it through Barret’s chest. “You buy the apology cake for the office and it’s a deal.”

“I suppose that’s an acceptable trade,” the architect replied. “I’ll buy a cake, if,” he paused to shift his weight against where he could feel Barret’s erection hard against his thigh even through the other man’s jeans. “If they find out.”

Barret’s eyes bored into him, heavy with lust, and Reeve knew that if his hands had been free, Reeve would already be half naked in his arms. As things were though, Reeve had something else in mind. He stood up, just long enough to fish a small bottle of lube out of his slacks before kicking them off with his underwear. Dark brown eyes watched him with longing, and the architect decided to give him a show. Now naked thighs straddled the other man once more, his erection sliding up against the white shirt as he scooted in close. As his left hand steadied himself against his boyfriend, Reeve’s right hand slid across Barret’s face, pointer and index finger pausing to touch his lips. The lips opened and without hesitation, Barret took both digits into his mouth. He locked eyes with Reeve as he did so, running his tongue slowly over them before pulling his lips tight to suck on the fingers hard. Reeve instinctively rocked his hips in response, savoring the pressure as his dick met firm abdominal muscle. Barret’s saliva would do little in comparison to the lube that would soon be covering his hands, but the satisfying pop when he pulled his fingers out of Barret’s mouth was exactly what he wanted.

It was strange to prep himself without Barret’s steady hand rubbing gentle circles on his back, soothing him with soft encouragement. He was always extremely gentle during sex, taking great care to make sure his partner was completely comfortable and at ease. It was enough to make Reeve fall in love with him each time. But today, he wanted to see that careful control slip. He wanted Barret to fuck him raw.

Freeing Barret’s dick only made him want it all the more. 

“Hey, take it easy, okay?” Even heavy with need, the worry was there in Barret’s voice. He always seemed afraid to break him.

“Oh, I’ll take it alright.” It didn’t come out as smoothly as he wanted, but that didn’t matter now. He focused on his hands, still slick with lube. One braced him on a broad shoulder, so he could lift himself up slowly while the other guided the dick to his hole. Slowly, but without hesitation, he let gravity pull him down as Barret’s thickness pushed up, filling him completely. It was so much. Every time it was so so much. He took Barret in completely, thighs spread wide and back straight.

“Breathe,” Barret reminded him softly, voice heavy with want, but determined to drag Reeve back to the present first. The architect let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. They were together, having sex in the office at last. The office chair wobbled under their combined weight as Reeve shifted his weight, hands sliding down to brace himself on Barret’s chest. Barret’s chest. A bit too gleefully, he caught Barret’s nipples between his fingers, smearing them with the remaining lube. At the sensation, Barret’s cock twitched deep inside him. Reeve grinned.

It was definitely time to move.

Changing his grip so he could firmly grasp Barret’s pecs, Reeve shifted, moving back and forth slowly at first, building up to what he really wanted. He couldn’t mask a moan as Barret moved his hips in time, rocking up to meet him. Just a little faster. Just a little-- 

Reeve’s breaths came heavy as the force from Barret’s thrusts sent him bouncing up and down on that thick cock. His own dick sliding up against firm muscle as he did so. He tried to focus on matching that rhythm—gripping the Barret’s chest firmer as he fucked himself thoroughly. 

“Oh, oh fuck, right there.” The words tumbled out as he hit just the right angle. “B-Barret.” He squeezed his ass down hard, desperate for more. Barret grunted in response, still managing to thrust up even without free hands to steady himself.

This was exactly what he had wanted. His fingers twitched against hard nipples, hurriedly rolling them in a circular motion. Thighs strained as he bounced himself up and down in motion with Barret’s cock. He wanted more. He needed more. 

His back arched as hard cock hit his sweet spot again.

“Oh god, I—“ he whimpered, body suddenly rigid.

“Come for me, Babe,” Barret growled in his ear.

Reeve did as he was told, moaning out his boyfriend’s name as he came all over his shirt. 

His body drooped down, and he closed his eyes as he rested his forehead on the other man’s shoulder, panting. The blood was still pounding in his ears. Barret’s dick was still firm in his ass.

In his post orgasm haze, he didn’t think twice about the warm hands rubbing soft circles into his back. He sighed contentedly at the gentle touches. His own arms slid around Barret in turn, pulling him into a loose embrace. Barret really was too sweet. Even with his hands tied up he--

Wait, his hands!

“When did you get your hands untied?!”

Pulling back, Reeve looked his boyfriend up and down in surprise. Barret had indeed somehow gotten free from Reeve’s necktie. The architect only caught a glimpse of his smirk though, before he was pulled close again by the NGO leader. 

He huffed. 

How did Barret always manage to be so sexy? 

And that’s when it dawned on him. Barret still hadn’t come yet.

Shifting his head so he could breathe on the other’s ear, he made his suggestion. “How about round two?”

Barret stiffened against him, but the way his cock twitched told a different story. “You just came, I’m not gonna-“

He froze mid sentence as Reeve shifted, ass still right around his member. “I thought you weren’t done with me yet, Barret Wallace~” 

Frowning deeply, Barret looked him up and down, calculating. To encourage him, Reeve shifted his weight, and reinitiated the nipple play he had started earlier. Barret took a sharp breath. His hesitance was understandable--the adrenaline pumping through Reeve’s veins was already wearing off and he could feel his ass aching. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to walk normally the next day if they continued. Not that it bothered him at all.

He wanted his lover to stop holding back.

Truth be told, he most definitely wouldn’t mind the teasing that was sure to come if he was limping the next day. That was, if it meant he got to feel Barret taking him apart. Slowly. Completely.

His own dick hardened at the thought.

This didn’t escape the ngo leader’s notice, and he raised an eyebrow at the architect still sitting firmly on his cock. “You’re not playing, are you?”

“I assure you, I am completely serious.”

“A seriously horny bastard,” he replied with a snort.

“Your horny bastard.” The words were warm with affection.

Barret barked out a laugh at this. “I suppose you are.” He pulled Reeve into a brief kiss, mind made up. When they both pulled back from the kiss, he looked him over once again “Don’t want to hear any whining from you in the morning.” 

And then, before Reeve could reply, he had been turned around and pushed hard against Barret’s desk, his face practically on top of the keyboard. 

“Wha-”

Something wrapped tight around his wrists, binding his arms behind him. Was that his necktie?!

“See how you like it.” Barret’s voice was suddenly low in his ear, his weight heavy against him. A shiver ran through Reeve’s body as Barret planted a wet kiss on his ear, and then brushed his hair aside to leave a kiss on the back of his neck as well. 

Two hands, one flesh and one metal, ran up his bare thighs, pausing when they reached his ass. He squeezed each cheek slowly before massaging firm circles into the supple flesh. He moved the cheeks apart, and then back together, all painfully slowly. His left thumb pressed between them, thoughtfully circling Reeve’s sore entrance. His right slipped around in front, and after a very careful moment, he took Reeve’s hardening member in his hand.

“God, yes,” the architect whimpered, immediately thrusting against the metallic hand.

Barret chuckled, Reeve really did like his prosthetic, didn’t he? Barret had been a bit terrified the first time, not sure if he had the control with the robot limb that that kind of ...delicate procedure required. But with time (and maybe a little practice on himself), he had gotten the hang of it, and now felt quite confident stroking Reeve until he was fully hard again. And just in time too; the sounds Reeve was making were driving him crazy. 

With his left hand, he carefully stretched his boyfriend’s ass wide once more. 

“Gonna fuck you now.”

He didn’t give Reeve a chance to respond before pushing in.

It was much tougher the second time--he probably should have gotten more lube. But there was something incredible about how tight Reeve felt around him, clenching even as Barret pushed deeper. And deeper. There. He was flush with Reeve’s ass.

He took a deep breath and steadied his boyfriend--hands tight around his hips.

“B-Barret.” Reeve managed to look back and over his shoulder, meeting Barret’s eyes with his own. His face and torso resting on the desk, his hands tied behind him. The fact that he still had his shirt and suit jacket on made the whole thing all the sweeter for Barret. The architect, normally impeccably well-groomed and sharp looking, lay disheveled all over Barret’s desk: his hair in disarray and suit rumpled. He looked back at Barret with his mouth open, panting, desperate. The sex they had in the bedroom was always good, but this. This was something on an entirely different level. But he wasn’t going to think too hard about what that meant at the moment.

“Yeah, that’s good. Look at me just like that.” Barret pulled back before thrusting into Reeve.

“Ah!” A gasp escaped the other man’s lips, his eyelids sliding half closed.

Barret responded by thrusting into him again, harder this time. Reeve moaned. Barret felt a grin form on his face as he set a fast pace for them. His thrusts hit Reeve hard, and the wet sound of sex, mixed with loud moans, filled the office room.

He would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about this before. Reeve pushed down on the desk. Barret taking him from behind. It was obvious from early on that his boyfriend was thinking about it too--he was always eager to start things whenever they had a little alone time. Barret couldn’t blame him either; they hardly ever had enough time for sex. He had kept him waiting for a long time too.

But today, all that waiting was over.

Today, he was going to satisfy them both.

Shifting back so he could pull almost all the way out, he took a deep breath before slamming back in so hard he was sure Reeve was seeing stars. He always did want Barret to be a bit rougher with him after all. Rougher. Harder. 

“Yes, Barret! Yes!” 

“Gonna make you feel so good, Baby,” Barret growled in response as he pounded Reeve with all he had, fucking him thorughly. 

Just a little more.

Reeve’s encouraging words dissolved into syllable-less moans. He was close. And so was Barret.

“Baby, I’m gonna--”

His whole body tensed, and he thrust deeply into his boyfriend, pulling him close as he did. A shudder wracked his whole body, and he came with a low moan.

“Reeve.”

Hearing his boyfriend call out his name was all it took to drive the other man over the edge. He whimpered against Barret before going limp.

They both lay there, slumped against the desk, hot and sticky, incredibly content. Barret was the first to stir, wrapping his arms tightly around his boyfriend in a warm hug. Nuzzling his cheek, he planted a sloppy kiss there, before peppering Reeve’s whole face with kisses until Reeve dissolved into soft laughter.

“Hey,” Barret said softly, with eyes that were softer still.

“Hey,” Reeve responded, grinning.

Clean-up took longer than either of them would have liked, partially due to the cum they had gotten on the carpet, and partially due to how worn out Reeve was. Even when they were dressed, his eyes were distant and he seemed exhausted, leaning against the desk for support. Barret would have been worried if not for the stupid smile Reeve had on his face. 

He switched out his (now ruined) white button up for a spare t-shirt before striding back over to check on his boyfriend.

“Satisfied?” Barret slid a hand against Reeve’s face, and he closed his eyes and leaned into it, still smiling.

“Yes. Most definitely.”

Barret only chuckled in response.

When both of their belongings were ready to go, and the architect’s condition hadn’t improved, Barret decided to finally suggest the plan he’d been mulling over for the past few minutes.

“Hey, why don’t you crash at my place tonight?” His boyfriend began to protest, with something like “I can drive just fine--” but Barret wasn’t hearing any of it. “You’re gonna get in an accident, all spaced out like that.” 

“But Cait Sith--”

“We can swing by your place and pick him up along with a spare set of clothes for you.” It wouldn’t be the first time the cat had stayed over at the Wallace’s. The cat had been incredibly mad the first time Reeve had left him alone to spend the night with Barret. Even with plenty of food and water and toys, the feline had acted as if Reeve had completely abandoned him. Barret thought the whole thing was so funny that he told Reeve to bring Cait Sith with him the next time he came over. Marlene had of course gotten jealous, and Cait Sith’s visits became regular after that. The cat had been all purrs and loud meows for attention the moment he was out of his carrier, making Reeve suspect that it wasn’t being left alone he had objected to so much as Reeve going to see the Wallaces without him.

Back in the present, Barret put a hand on Reeve’s shoulder. “Once we have Cait, we can pick up Marlene and then get fast food for dinner. She’ll like that.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all planned.” Reeve was watching him with a small smile

“Just thinking on my feet,” Barret responded with a grin. “Gotta do a lot of that around you.”

Later, when they had picked up his finicky cat, a very excited Marlene, and tacos from Barret’s favorite food truck, Reeve let his mind wander to how this had become a regular thing. The four of them, spending time together like some kind of…

Barret stood in the driveway, Marlene (still in her gymnastics gear) clinging to his left side and Cait Sith’s cat carrier in his right. The little girl cooed at the cat, who in turn rubbed his face up against the bars of the cage. With both hands full, Barret seemed to be having trouble getting out his keys to unlock the door.

The whole thing reminded Reeve of the time they had first met—that strange coincidence in the Wholesome Foods aisle. Barret had Marlene on one hip and a shopping basket in his other hand. He’d been so quick to call out Reeve for taking the last quinoa. And now—

“Hey, Reeve, can you get the keys out of my back pocket?”

Wedge had used the word “family.”

Reeve walked over, carefully shifting the bag of tacos to his other hand so he could fish the keys out of Barret’s pocket. He couldn’t resist giving Barret’s ass a soft pat as he did. The man made a face at him and he grinned.

Door unlocked, he stood at the entrance, holding it open for the father and his two passengers. 

“Welcome home,” Reeve said with a soft smile.

Barret grinned at him, and even after all this time, and everything they had done together, just that one smile set his heart racing. Then, with his daughter on one hip and the cat on the other, Barret stepped close, so that their faces were almost touching. The corners of his eyes crinkled in mirth. Without hesitating, he planted a chaste kiss on Reeve’s lips.

“I’m home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> I'm absolutely in love with this pairing, so much that I got back into writing fic for the first time in years! I mostly do art, and have a long Barret/Reeve comic that I've been working on (along with lots and lots of art of the two of them). Check it out on my tumblr or twitter (links in my bio).
> 
> Thanks again for all the support! This fic has been a lot of fun.


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